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Choke Paperback – Print, June 11, 2002

by Chuck Palahniuk (Author)

752 customer reviews

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Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be “saved” by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor’s life, go on to send checks to support him. When he’s not pulling this stunt, Victor cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops for action, visits his addled mom, and spends his days working at a colonial theme park. His creator, Chuck Palahniuk, is the visionary we need and the satirist we deserve.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Sheer, anarchic fierceness of imagination . . . [A] raw and vital book.” --The New York Times

“Few contemporary writers mix the outrageous and the hilarious with greater zest. . . . Chuck Palahniuk’s splenetic, anarchic glee makes him a worthy heir to Ken Kesey.” —Newsday

"Palahniuk displays a Swiftian gift for satire, as well as a knack for crafting mesmerizing sentences." --San Francisco Examiner

“Puts a bleakly humorous spin on self-help, addiction recovery, and childhood trauma . . . [F]unny mantra-like prose plows toward the mayhem it portends from the get-go.” --The Village Voice

From the Inside Flap

Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be "saved" by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor's life, go on to send checks to support him. When he's not pulling this stunt, Victor cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops for action, visits his addled mom, and spends his days working at a colonial theme park. His creator, Chuck Palahniuk, is the visionary we need and the satirist we deserve.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Anchor (June 11, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385720920
ISBN-13: 978-0385720922
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 752 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #41 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Doctors & Medicine
- #123 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Humor & Satire > Dark Humor
- #274 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Self-Help & Psychology

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February 27, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

One crazy read. My preference is an edgy, gritty novel: bold language, absurd creativity, preposterous characterization, wrapped tightly in a strange story. Choke has it all in multiples, almost to the point of bad taste. At one point, about Chapter 8, the ludicrous characterizations of geriatrics humor began to wear on me and careened off into the ditch of crude and poor writing judgment.

So, I put it aside for a couple of days until curiosity won out. Glad it did. Once past that Chapter 8 mudhole, I began to figure out the brilliant complexity of the story. The humor is very good, strong visualizations, certifiable protag. It became a fun read.

The format, ‘first person present tense,’ is masterfully done. The present tense for an entire novel can get tedious. It needs a great writer to pull it off. Palahniuk does it to perfection. The to and fro on the chronology... a little fatiguing.

Beware, the subject matter is highly graphic and requires a stout constitution. Bingo. On to the Fight Club next. I’m stuffing Palahniuk into the same envelope as Cormac, Woodrell, Pollock, Lansdale, etc. He's in good company.

3 people found this helpful4 people found this helpful

Steven M. AnthonyTop Contributor: Fantasy Books

Though Highly Original, Runs Out of Steam

December 29, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I ordered this book after reading a plot synopsis and being intrigued, coupled with the fact that the author also wrote Fight Club, one of the most original and compelling movies I’ve seen. It has elements of borderline pornography, so if that bothers you look elsewhere, as the protagonist is a sex addict.

In addition to being sexually impulsive, Victor must support his delusional mother in an assisted care facility, at a cost of $3,000 per month. How to raise that kind of money on a menial, minimum wage job? Victor trolls through area restaurants, staging choking incidents, compelling patrons to “save his life”. Having done so, he finds they subsequently feel responsible for his well-being, sending him money from time to time. The story cycles through choking incidents, sexual encounters, visits between Victor and his Mom (past and present), Victor’s job as a colonial reenactor and his relationship with his best friend, Denny.

The story is filled with other characters, just as “damaged” as Victor. This is certainly original and initially quite entertaining, but though short, it runs out of steam well before a nice plot twist near the end.

3 people found this helpful4 people found this helpful

Adam L. Kopcinski

What you'd expect...if what you expect is pretty good.

February 5, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

If you've read anything by Palahniuk before, you should know what to expect from this novel; it has an (almost) unbelievable twist ending, the protagonist is out of sync with society, the protagonist has women-issues - oh boy, does he ever...well, you get the point...
But just because the guy is a little formulaic doesn't mean he's not a brilliant author, and just because we might have been here before doesn't mean that this isn't a great book. One thing Palahniuk has going for him is his energy - you can feel it come across the page and slap you in the face. If Jackson Pollock had been a writer instead of a painter, or Vonnegut was a little grittier, or Bret Easton Ellis was a little more clever...well, that would Palahniuk.
The male characters in this book are emasculated - kind of like in fight club - and, same as in that book, it is not their fault. A great deal of Palahniuk's work tends to focus on the emasculation of the male; how there is no place in society anymore for an everyday guy to be a hero, or a cowboy, or a Knight-in-shining-armor, or much of anything at all, because the world has become so safe and consumer-friendly. The Inner dialogue of the main character, Victor, explores his addictions and chick-issues yes, but also gravitates around the fact that he doesn't want to be soft and mushy; he wants to be a jerk, and in the end, both fails and succeeds at the task. If your male and ever had to deal with the expectations of your mother, all of this will seem strangely familiar to you...
This book is a page turner; the dialogue may be a little stilted, but hey, what do you want from the guy, this is the way people actually speak in our `modern times.' Besides, the prose is so visceral and beautiful it gos a long way towards raising the value of his words.
If your into cynical, subversive, humorous, and clever books, you'll probably enjoy novel.

5 people found this helpful6 people found this helpful

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